For The Last Time
by TheWitch'sDorothy
Summary: Elphaba's plan to kill Madame Morrible was going perfectly. Until a certain blonde woman got in the way. Bookverse.


The Goldhaven square was a place of hustle and bustle, but there was a certain relaxed air, almost an odd kind of serenity, about it. Hot-chocolate vendors sold steaming mugs of the drink from battered carts that lined the street, while visitors to the district strolled and chatted among themselves. A theatre, known as the Lady's Mystique, occupied the majority of the square, a grand building of red brick draped with gold and green holiday lights. Nonetheless, smaller shops had popped up in the remaining space around it, like so many ducklings. In time with the Lurlinemas season, snow and ice coated the sidewalk and roads, while fresh flakes were constantly falling gently from the gray clouds above.

A single black-clad figure watched the scene with a kind of detached semi-interest from a lone alleyway on the edge of the square. The figure adjusted its cloak as the snow began to fall more heavily and flexed its fingers to retain their warmth, for if the job at hand was to be completed correctly, it simply wouldn't do not to have full mobility.

A carriage entered the square from around the corner of a building on the opposite side of the square from the figure in the alleyway. It was a stately creation, made of dark cherrywood with detailed gold paneling in the shape of swirls and other patterns, pulled by two dark brown horses. The driver wore a suit and top hat, with an overcoat, scarf, and gloves to keep out the cold that threatened everyone exposed to the elements. The crowd stilled somewhat, the voices becoming quieter as they realized that the carriage must contain a figure of authority.

The figure in the alley watched as the coachman opened the door, stiffening as the carriage's occupant stepped with a crunch onto the snow-covered ground. Madame Morrible, looking as much like some sort of Carp as ever, began to walk towards the theater, accompanied by a tiktok man, whom the figure knew was called Grommetik. Grasping at the handle of a knife hidden in her cloak, the figure exited the alleyway and began to walk at a clip towards Morrible, trying to get at the Head before she entered the theatre, and escaped the figure's grasp. The crowd was thick around the woman, trying to get a glimpse of the person who had entered the square so regally. Shoving its way through the crowd, the figure was getting closer and closer to its target, until-

"Oh! I'm sorry!" A high-pitched voice said as the figure slipped and took an ungraceful tumble to the icy sidewalk. The figure's heart skipped a beat, for that voice was one that the figure knew well. "Sweet Oz, is that you, Elphie?"

Elphaba Thropp looked up at the blonde woman, who was dressed in an elegant powder blue coat with matching gloves and a long skirt to keep out the cold. White boots done in the latest fashion, peeked out from under the confines of the skirt. Glinda's curls were dotted with snowflakes. They suited her.

Elphaba got up quickly, brushing herself off and, upon seeing how close she'd gotten to Morrible, reached inside her cloak for the knife. She ignored Glinda's chatter and once more began to more towards the Head, who was almost at the theatre, but by some stroke of luck was now talking amiably with some officials out front. The crowd had left the square by now, assured away by theatre attendants, who had long since escaped the cold.

"Elphie, why are you ignoring me?" Glinda asked, hurt and confusion apparent in her tone. Though it pained Elphaba to hear such emotions in her voice, she knew that she only had one chance to get at Morrible, to avenge Doctor Dillamond. That chance couldn't be missed, no matter what the cost. "Elphie, look at me! Elphie!" Glinda reached out and grabbed an emerald wrist, sending the knife clattering to the icy cobblestones. Elphaba froze, unsure of how to proceed now that her intentions were exposed, while Glinda gasped, her azure eyes widening until she looked like a blonde owl with light blue feathers. Glinda reached down and gingerly picked up the knife, holding the handle very carefully, as though it would burn her if she touched it for too long. The azure eyes traveled around the square, coming to rest on Madame Morrible speaking to the theatre officials, and they flashed with recognition and understanding.

"Elphie, you wouldn't…." She whispered, meeting the eyes of the emerald woman, whose face was impassive.

"Don't presume to tell me what I would and would not do, _Lady Glinda_," she hissed, making the other woman's title seem like the worst insult she could've said. Glinda winced, Elphaba's anger clearly cutting her to the core.

"Why?" She whispered, a layer of tears beginning to glaze over her cerulean eyes. She could not- she would not- accept that her Elphie was a cold-blooded murderer. Elphaba sighed in exasperation, angry that Morrible was escaping her grasp.

"Does it really matter?" She grapped the knife back from the Good Witch, holding it back by her side. "Now, please move." She forced her tone to be as cold and detached as possible, to mask the hurt that it caused her to treat Glinda this callously. But it was for the blonde's own good. She was too delicate, too _good_ to be involved in this sort of thing. Elphaba had often heard the phrase, "If you love something, let it go." Well, whether she liked it or not, it was time to let Glinda go.

"Yes it does!" Glinda took ahold of Elphaba's wrist once more, tugging the knife back out into the open. Her eyes sparkling with tears, she whispered: "I know you, Elphie, I _know_ you. And this isn't who you are. You're not the person to kill for vengeance, you never were. Don't do this to yourself. Morrible isn't worth it, anyway." Elphaba's chocolate eyes bored into Glinda's.

"You don't know me as well as you think. Glinda, don't get involved in this; it doesn't concern you." Tears finally began to run down Glinda's cold cheeks, tracing burning trails down her face.

"Anything you do involves me. Or have you forgotten I love you?" Elphaba stiffened, the knife falling with a clatter to the ground again. Her eyes lost some of their steely detachment, the softness that always came when she was with Glinda slowly beginning to edge its way back into her gaze. Hope began to trickle its way back into Glinda's heart, hope that the Elphie she knew and loved was somewhere under her latest disguise.

"I haven't forgotten. But please Glinda, just don't try to stop me." Elphaba was struggling to keep her cold tone. Glinda had a way of breaking down all of her barriers. It was infuriating, but also somehow gratifying.

"Elphaba Thropp, do you have any idea what would happen if you killed her? You would get caught by the Gale Force, tortured, and then publicly executed!" Glinda was crying in earnest now, the tears freezing on her face. Against her own will, Elphaba reached out and wiped the tears from the blonde's face.

"…I have to go," Elphaba whispered, hating herself for saying so. But it was true; Morrible had just entered the theatre, and all hopes of retribution along with her. She leaned in and kissed Glinda's lips gently, knowing in her heart of hearts that it would be the last time that she ever kissed the blonde.

"Elphie, don't leave me. Not again." Glinda said when she pulled away, her voice thick with tears.

"I'm sorry…" Elphaba couldn't bear to look at her any longer. With a swish of her cloak, she turned and walked quickly away, blinking back the tears that now threatened her as well.

Glinda watched her go through the thickening snow, falling faster until Elphaba was hidden from view.


End file.
